WEEKEND OF DOMINICAN BASEBALL
BY ISMAEL NUNEZ
This November at Citi Field, home field of the New York Mets located at Queens NY, was hosted the first-ever Dominican Winter League (LIDOM) Series between rivals Los Tigres del Licey and Las Águilas Cibaeñas. It was Billed as “Titans of the Caribbean”. The series included the two winningest teams in the history of the Dominican Winter League.
The series took place in New York City and was well supported due to the Dominican population here in New York City growing, not to mention that Washington Heights is considered the Dominican Capitol of the United States. Future Hall of Famer and former designated hitter/outfielder Nelson Cruz was at Citi Field observing the game and was honored for his accomplishments. He’ll be joining two other Dominicans Adrian Beltre an dAlbert Pujols who are both destined for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cruz stated, “The way the fans are reacting is great. We as Dominicans, we love the game [of baseball]. It’s in our DNA. I don’t think it’s going to stop for now.”
Other well known Dominicans present were: singer/bandleader Wilfrido Vargas, singer of “El Africano”, Tony Peña, the five-time All-Star who took over as Tigres’ manager in the last week, who had his warm-up jacket zipped to the neck, and David Oritiz, Baseball Hall of Famer who was elected in2022 caught the ceremonial first pitch.
The Cibaeña Eagles would go on to win the “Titans of the Caribbean” series, via sweep, after defeating the Licey Tigers 9-6 in the third and last game that marked the closing of the exhibition event. Despite the excitement the series has three strikes.
Stirke One-No advertisment. No postings anywhere, If one were to go to Latin American Communities here in New York City there were no announcements in the Latin Media newspapers, radio, or TV. Nothing.
Strike Two-Prices. The only Method of payment were either by credit/debit cards and mobile payment (Apple Pay and Google Pay) at rate of $40/vehicle and $80/oversized vehicle. One had to ask how much for the tickets? Pretty sure the price was above $100 or more, who knows.
Strike Three-The games were not on TV! This is hard to believe. That past weekend there were over 10 College Football games on TV. Two NYC football teams, the NY Giants and Jets, both playing terribly, were on TV; and they did not even show one game of this series! Hard to believe!
Yet sad!
